An extension of the Common Sense Journalism monthly column by Doug Fisher, former broadcaster, newspaper reporter and wire service editor. From new media to old, much of journalism is just plain common sense."In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Unknown (often improperly attributed to Thomas Jefferson)
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
"Common sense is instinct; enough of it is genius" - George Bernard Shaw

Monday, June 05, 2006

Critiquing the Times -- from the inside

At Newthinking, Bob Baker has two revealing posts.

The first is a rundown of an internal critique of New York Times writing by 10 of its staffers. Summary: Too-long sentences; dense, sometimes impenetrable writing; formula and cliche.

The second is a response from Times staffers critiquing the critique. Their response is varied and not as easily summed, but while many are complimentary of the original comments, among the points they make is that cliches can be a useful shorthand (and that the original critiques were cliche-ridden themselves -- and that even just the journalistic story form is one giant cliche) and that the Times' rigid policies promote dense writing.

I love this comment from one of the "worker bees":

There is an old joke about Times writers. When they want to write "A gorilla ate a banana with a far-away expression, as if daydreaming of better times" we write "A gorilla, a large primate found in Uganda and parts of Eastern Zaire, ate a banana, an elongated yellow fruit from the tropics, with a far away expression, as if daydreaming, a wakeful state in which a person fantasizes, of better times, according to a witness, who insisted on anonymity, because he was no authorized to be in the gorilla cage.… No wonder our bloody sentences go so long.

Yes, I do coaching and consulting. That is the only shameless commerce you'll get from me here. Go to the bottom of the blog for more details.
Who am I: A longtime print and broadcast reporter/editor/producer and then AP news editor who now professes journalism at the University of South Carolina. (But please note, nothing on this blog represents official university policy or sentiment. If it did, I'd be very concerned.)My point: That journalism is a great occupation, that most journalism is common sense and that our problems arise when we sometimes don't use it.What's covered: My interests center on editing and writing and on editors and the challenges they face in a changing environment. I'm convinced editors are not being trained enough to face these challenges, but that common sense rules the day. I'm heavily involved in Newsplex, the new-media newsroom at the University of South Carolina. But my interests are wide-ranging, so anything, from ethics to some aspects of Web design, is fair game.
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Common Sense Journalism &nbspYes, I do seminars and consulting. Among those I have worked with are the SNPA Traveling Campus, S.C. Press Association, N.Y. Press Association, Georgia Press Association, Mississippi Press Association, Virginia Press Association, Landmark Community Newspapers, American Copy Editors Society, Society of Professional Journalists, Lancaster (S.C.) News, The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald, The (Sumter, S.C.) Item, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. Contact me for more information.